


Protector

by birdsaretoddlers



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: After that one ending in ShTH, Gen, Shadow's not okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26293858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdsaretoddlers/pseuds/birdsaretoddlers
Summary: The Black Arms Crisis is over, and Shadow the Hedgehog has locked himself on the ARK. Incredibly hostile to anybody who attempts to reach him, how will Sonic and his friends get him down and adapt to normal life?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Protector

"So... What do we do about this situation?"

A GUN liaison with sticky fingers and dubious morals, a pure-hearted hero, a dirt-covered loner, and a headphone-equipped detective were crowded around a hill outside of Westopolis. The city, still in the midst of it's reconstruction efforts, was mainly blocked off by black and yellow tape. Deep furrows in the earth told of the battle that took place here during the Black Arms' surprise attack, smoldering ruins long since put out still scattered across town, fires from the laser strikes finally quelled. It was a sight for sore eyes for many, even those who did not call the city home. It was a large, bustling metropolis before, now it was... Sad, and empty. Desolate after the earth-shattering surprise attack that left the entirety of downtown destroyed. With a long exhale of breath, Sonic finally addressed Rouge's question. "I... Don't know what we're gonna do about this, Rouge. Really, I don't."

"Well we can't just leave him up there!" Knuckles snapped back in response, his short temper worn down to a nub by the events of the week. "He's got all the Chaos Emeralds, he took the one I found right out of my hands and ran off, left me with those... Freaks! I say we go up there and-"

"Cool your jets, hot shot," Rouge replied. Hanging upside down from a tree branch, the shifty fox bat studied her nails with a forced air of disinterest. "We know what Shadow did. Intelligence reports say he was seen at Prison Island after leaving Westopolis, and was later confirmed to be engaged in that air battle between the Doctor and Black Doom-"

"-Which I could have stopped if he actually bothered to help me in the first place!"

"Yes, now quit interrupting, if you would?" Fuming, the echidna crossed his arms, grit his teeth, and began to tap a steady staccato into the ground with his foot. Satisfied with her silence, Rouge continued, "And he infiltrated the flagship to chase Eggman. Tracking him down to his base in the jungle, he met up with our Agent Omega and grounded the Doctor's escape vessel. Following that, the Eggman tried to convince Shadow he was an Android model, but following a brief scuffle, Shadow defeated the Doctor and refused this explanation for his past."

"Afterwards, my intel is that Shadow, using the Chaos Emeralds he had stolen from Westopolis, Prison Island, the Mystic Ruins, and Eggman, Chaos Controlled onto the ARK, where GUN forces were already accumulating to protect the Eclipse Cannon from Black Arms interference. He 'escaped' the Commander and rampaged through the ARK as it was falling apart, collected the Chaos Emerald, and then got into it with Eggman, again. After that..."

"He chased everyone off," Vector concluded, just as furious as Knuckles was, "Including me, and told us not to get back or we'd get killed! Thanks for the recap, sister, it's not like it didn't just happen!"

"Well not everyone was there for every part of it, sweetheart-"

"Would everybody _please_ knock it off?!"

Normally on an even tempo, Sonic finally snapped, causing his friends to, finally, stop their bickering and lapse into an uneasy silence. Sonic rubbed his temples, leaning back against the tree with his eyes shut. "Yes, I know what happened after. He used all seven Chaos Emeralds, loaded up the Eclipse Cannon, and blasted the Black Comet into smithereens. And now he's proclaimed himself 'protector' of the ARK, and is using it's defenses to prevent _anyone-_ GUN _or_ Egg- from coming up there. Right Vec?"

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, Vector plopped down onto the grass himself. "Well, that's the long and short of it. I'm just lucky GUN let me hitch a ride and Eggman was too busy saving his own skin to take any notice of me!"

A sly smirk crossed Rouge's lips as she stretched her arms downward, folding them behind her head. "Yeah, Tower told me he won't give you a bill cause of the extenuating circumstances of, you know, murderous hedgehog."

"Well isn't that sweet of him? I still want him to pay for damages though, poor Charmy's upset! All those GUN soldiers, the aliens, and Shadow were all mean to Charmy!"

"He is not a murderer! And he's not mean! I'm sure he's just... Scared," Sonic insisted, ignoring the skeptical glances cast his way to gesture with his hands in a plea for understanding. "I mean, he doesn't know who he is, most of his life is pretty much lost to him! He barely remembers most of us, and now the military is trying to kill him! I don't blame him for locking himself up there when the world's trying to badger him for a deposition or detainment!"

His impassioned speech fell upon mostly deaf ears. Literally, in Vector's case, as the crocodile relied mainly on lip-reading, as his tune of the day blasted in his ears to block out the buzzing. Tinnitus didn't stop him from scoffing and rolling his eyes though. "Well, whatever the case, Knuckles has a point. He has all the Chaos Emeralds, whoever gets those is going to put a lot of hurt on the planet, and it's still reconstructing!"

"GUN has confirmed," Rouge interjected, "That the Black Arms didn't just hit the Federation. Chun-Nan and Midesta were also hit in the initial attack. They're weakened, and from my scouting, Eggman got hit pretty hard too. The Egg Fleet took heavy damage fighting the Arms, and as far as we can confirm with our drones out there, he hasn't been able to make contact with Shadow since Eggman himself got kicked off the ARK. If we're ever going to get Shadow down there, it'd have to be soon."

"Uh, news flash, bat girl," Knuckles replied, having taken to pacing back and forth around the tree. "Shadow's shooting down anything that comes close to him, isn't he? How are we going to approach? We can't warp in, we don't have a Chaos Emerald to Control in there with, and even if we did, he'd just kick us out or kill us! And that's still assuming we get a spaceship!"

"Tails has a ship," Sonic supplied, his spirits beginning to lift as he put a small idea together. Knuckles' withering glare did nothing to stop him, as he rose to his feet, looking around at his assorted friends. "I know Tails has a ship, we can just use that one! Rouge, have any super secret agent stuff that could warp us into the ARK?"

With a soft exhale, Rouge shut her eyes, swinging back and forth on her branch. She was strong, able to hang on despite the rocking motion. "Sorry honey, no teleporters yet. It really sucks Shadow has all the Emeralds, otherwise we really could just... Port in."

Vector, in this interim, had looked to Knuckles. Following his gaze, Rouge, and then Sonic, did the same. The red echidna stood stalwart, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. "... What? I don't have a-" Realization dawned upon him, and he slammed his foot on the ground, pointing a finger down as he did so. "Oh no, no way! Not happening! You're not taking the Master into space to go get that tantrum-throwing toddler! I won't allow it, absolutely not! No, no, no, no, no!"

* * *

"Have I mentioned that I really, REALLY hate this plan?"

"This is the eighth time, Knuckles. Could you hand me that wrench?"

Grumbling all sorts of oaths to any god or creature that was listening, Knuckles passed off the wrench, without looking, to the todd that was half-stuffed inside the inner workings of his spaceship. Tails was happily at work, an organized chaos of tools, parts, and other bits and pieces strewn out across the floor of his workshop in the Mystic Ruins. Sonic smiled at his friends, standing half inside the messy hangar, half out, gazing up at the sunny afternoon sky. Clouds scuttled in the breeze, and a bright beam of sunshine struck his face, warming his cheek and calming his mood, at least a little bit. He imagined, if he stayed here all night long, eventually, he would spot the speck of light that was the ARK, still orbiting the planet way out in space. As his friends bickered, Sonic finally pulled his thoughts, and his body, back into the workshop. "She ready to go yet, Tails?"

"Almost," came the muffled reply, as Tails pulled his front half out of his machine. Wiping his forehead, leaving a thick splotch of oil behind in the process, Tails jumped down off his stool to give a full report. "The Cyclone is rigged up to this cargo bay, so I can pilot it when we get close to the ARK and still be out of range of any kind of nasty weapon, including the Cannon, if Shadow chose to activate it. All I have left is to hook up this fake Altar inside the ship to the Cyclone, and then put the Master inside! It should be fast enough to get us into orbit and buy us a few hours to talk to Shadow before Angel Island even thinks about falling!" He concluded, with a wide smile full of white teeth that made the oil stain on his head all the more hilarious.

Careful to avoid the streak of sticky black ooze on his head, Sonic gave Tails a quick rub around the ears, affectionately teasing his 'younger brother'. "You're the best, Tails! Hey big guy, that sound okay to you?"

"No!" Knuckles shot back, angrily staring at the red and blue ship he was standing beside. "I don't like removing the Master! At all! I just put it back after I had to smash it!"

Shaking his head with a smile, Sonic slung his arm around Knuckles shoulder, wiping a finger under his nose. "Knuckles, buddy, that was seven months ago. We really need to get you a calendar! Hey, when do you want your year to start, April or January?"

Dodging a swing from the echidna with a quick side-step, Sonic successfully redirected the echidna's anger, leaving the spaceship safe for Tails once more. "I don't need a calendar! I know full well how long ago the Master was put back and I say if I never have to remove it again it'd still be too soon!" Ducking under another punch, Sonic skillfully led the echidna outside, where the wide-open spaces of the jungle would provide a fun little racetrack when Knuckles really got steamed. 

"You sure? I was thinkin' we could make an anniversary out of it, yanno, taking out the Emerald and dunking Angel Island in the sea? Oooh, we could call it Sea-Saw? Get it? Because we'd put the island down and back up?"

With a nod at Tails' silently mouthed 'thanks', Sonic dodged the freight train of anger-chidna heading his way, and tore out into the grassy expanse of Mystic Ruins, allowing Knuckles to rant and rage as he chased behind him. Best to let Tails get some work done without Big Red hanging over his shoulder and snorting.


End file.
